Brazil, Pakistan, and India--three nations with high
numbers of unsolved journalist murders--failed an important
test last month in fighting the scourge of impunity. Delegates from the three
countries took the lead in raising objections to a U.N. plan that would
strengthen international efforts to combat deadly anti-press violence.

New Delhi-based Tehelka
weekly news magazine has published a scathing
indictment of the police investigation into the 2011 killing of Mumbai
crime reporter Jyotirmoy
Dey--and of the Indian media's coverage of it. Beneath the allegations
and the rumors, we still don't know exactly why he was killed, while the
self-confessed mastermind is a fugitive from justice. Meanwhile, a second
journalist has been indicted for the crime on apparently flimsy evidence.

To many in the Indian media community, the arrest of independent
journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi by the Delhi police's Special Cell on March 6
for his alleged involvement in a bombing brings back troublesome memories.

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New York, March 6, 2012--A large crowd attacked a group of about
100 Indian journalists covering local election results in the northern state of
Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday and damaged their equipment, according to news
reports. The journalists were forced to lock themselves in a school for several
hours to protect themselves from the violence, news reports said.

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New York, March 6, 2012--The
Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of Indian journalist
Rajesh Mishra in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. Mishra
is the second journalist killed in Madhya Pradesh in a month.

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New York, March 2, 2012--Ten Indian journalists were reported
injured today after being attacked by a group of lawyers outside a court in the
city of Bangalore, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect
Journalists condemns the attack and calls on authorities to conduct an
immediate investigation.

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New York, February 21, 2012--The Committee to Protect
Journalists is outraged by the murder of a senior journalist in India and calls
on authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into his
death.

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Legislation for Internet security can quickly turn into a weapon against the free press. Cybercrime laws are intended to extend existing penal codes to the online world, but they can easily be broadened to criminalize standard journalistic practices. By Danny O'Brien

Although the motives remained unconfirmed in late year, the murders of Chhattisgarh's Umesh Rajput and Mumbai crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey reminded colleagues of the risk of violence. India remained on CPJ's Impunity Index, a ranking of countries in which journalists are murdered regularly and authorities fail to solve the crimes. Violent clashes between insurgents and government forces in states such as Kashmir challenged reporters' ability to work. In a mid-year report, The Hoot, a media issues website, recorded nine journalist assaults between January and May, including four in Orissa, where industrialization and Maoists had each displaced local residents. Authorities retaliated against critical reporting with antistate charges: Two journalists were jailed for allegedly supporting rebels after they criticized the impact of anti-Maoist campaigns on civilians. Journalists who exposed police ineptitude and corruption faced jail time. Politicians and businessmen muzzled reporters with legal action, including defamation, which authorities failed to decriminalize. Internet penetration was relatively low but growing, prompting the government to pass regulations that could suppress online dissent.